Posts Tagged ‘#Changes’

HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU

From the bottom of my heart…

Good Morning – HELLO Family Thank you. That’s right, we are starting our first post in nearly a year (Minus our IKEA RAST Hack), with a HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU. This past year has been especially hard for me. Our world was turned upside down in 2015, but we are finally landing right side up in 2016, and I wanted to say, HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU.

HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU

As you all know, 2015 was not a year I want to relive, and not being good at sharing personal stuff, well, I just stopped blogging. We had so many life changing events, life plain overwhelmed me. My father passed away in January suddenly (thank you for all the cards, personal messages, and posts – they were all much appreciated and treasured), then Mr. Hello surprised me with early retirement from one job, and went to work at another company, which moved us to Arizona, Corrina and Cody took job transfers to Michigan and Crysta just moved into a home right around the corner from us, and we were moving. With my father just passing, and now retirement, painting and creating custom pieces of furniture was the one thing that kept me from going crazy – but I had to finally slow down my Painted/Custom furniture business in St Louis with many tears, and start our transition from one state to another. This was so hard, as my clients were simply the BEST, it took me a full year to grow a great client base, and winding down my business was yet another thing I had to morn. We put our villa up for sale. Hard to do, because each of you helped me choose the décor that adorned the home. It was so special living there because of our HELLO Family Thank You.

The Villa Home Decor

Once we sold the villa, we moved across country after living in St Louis for 15 beautiful years, and leaving for the first time, our daughters in the Midwest. My mom friends and clients ran to my rescue offering Crysta and Justin places to come for the Holidays we were not going to spend with them. There is no better feeling than an extra team of moms who just get you! Hello Familly Thank you for all for your kindness, it was so appreciated. 🙂

HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU

Then another change, but a great one – a surprise call from Cody asking to marry our oldest daughter Corrina

Corrina and Cody – Engaged

and a side conversation with many hugs from Justin (Crysta’s true love) reassuring us he would take great care of Crysta.

Crysta and Justin

But leaving the grand pups…now that was tough pill to swallow.

Zoe and Hank – The Grand Pups!

We are blessed to have both Cody and Justin in our daughter’s lives, and ours (insert loads more tears from both myself and Mr. Hello.)

Tears-of-the-heart

The tears kept flowing as we packed the PODS, (yep I said PODS – it took 2 and I still had to get rid of pieces that would not fit at the end, who knew the villa held that much!!! Really!) As the PODS left the driveway, we locked the door, handing over the keys, and closing the villa sale shortly after. Pulling away from the driveway the tears started, and I started to feel like a faucet that would not shut off! Here we were leaving our St Louis life behind, suffering the loss of my father, and leaving our children/15 years of treasured memories in The Lou. Trying to feel celebratory on a new job and life in Arizona we were not feeling. It was just plain crazy, so much change at one time, but then again, you know HELLO I LIVE HERE does nothing in small doses 🙂

On our way across country, we stopped in Oklahoma to check on my mother, newly alone after 58 glorious years married to our father. It was surreal as I walked into the home and dad not being there. Quite, no TV blaring politics in the back ground, no more exchanging recipes or just getting that hug when we left – heart breaking :-/.

Mom and Dad

I just wanted to pack mom up and move her with us, you know the leave no man behind rule truly applied here, but mom being the strong willed woman she is – was not biting…which lead to more tears as we drove off down the road the next morning. It was hard to stop hugging mom, and not want to toss her in the SUV like granny from the Beverly Hill Billie’s, rocker and all!

How to move a mom that does not want to go

Thank God for a call from my older sister Terri, and her wonderful hubby Carlos they decided to move to Oklahoma, wait for it – 2 doors down from my mom! Que the tears – again! All of 5 sisters are so grateful, as it removes worry for us knowing mom has one of us there with her daily. Thanks Terri and Carlos! <3

Terri and Carlos

Arriving in Arizona a couple days later, me featuring where we had been and each of you commenting and posting to our Facebook Page from literally around the world as we rolled across country was heartwarming. Not knowing how our business would grow here in Arizona, it was the best feeling when our Arizona fans welcomed us to the state – you all gave me hope my business would start to grow here soon. HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU

Welcome to Arizona

But the hurdles were not over yet! Moving to a state with a job, but no home of our own, we settled in with my little sister, Connie, her hubby Michael, and children Jordan and Taylor. We began our search for a home that fit our needs in Arizona. What a journey. Every time we found a home to put in an offer, it was gone – in 1 day! We came to understand that FedEx had just moved to our new hometown and brought 8,000 new jobs with them – so wonderful – more growth – but the down side, no luck finding a home of our own. So, over Diet Coke on a sunny patio, my sister Connie and hubby Michael talked us into a new home in the same neighborhood they lived.

diet coke and sun – with great family company

Yep, a dream Connie, Maggie and I always talked about as kids, living up the street from each other so we could borrow sugar, eggs and have coffee (in our case, diet coke) together – Maggie…get on board woman! That reminder had me signing on the dotted line. It’s not every day you get to live near one of your wonderful sisters – now if the rest would just move here 😉

Family – sisters and mom

Taking their advice, we settled on a new home with Ryland (now CaAtlantic Homes).

Cal Atlantic Homes – A Ryland and Standard Homes Venture

But, the fun did not stop once we signed – nope – the crazy kept on coming – ;-/ The got bad news on the home we started building. The home could not be finished until February of this year! Why? Arizona is booming again, and a framer shortage cropped up due to so many new homes and business building here. Knowing we needed to get settled, we went for a spec home almost completed. We signed a new contract, and moved in shortly after. Thanks Shelly and Patrick for helping through all the crazy and paperwork, but the biggest thank you has to goes to Todd Lybert, the Project Manager, who helped us get into our new home quickly once the paperwork was done. You guys were all awesome to work with, and handled our crazy well. 😉

Once we moved in, our HELLO Family members went through the contractor up and downs with us on anything from blinds that were ordered and did not fit, too watching our backyard come to life way after the deadline we were promised (again contractor shortages – jobs galore), Mr. Hello’s favorite spot in the house by the way!

California Pools & Landscaping

But, after everything, the home that seemed too big, turned out to be perfect, as all of you in our HELLO Family started to fill our home with Facebook comments and decor suggestions which I looked forward to reading every day.

Out of boxes

It became more like home when Crysta and Justin called to say they were moving to Arizona! Que the tears –we are so excited to have at least one set of kids back – but I will not stop till Corrina and Cody live here too – Linda honey does not take no for an answer ;-)! LOL

Crysta and Justin

Today, Curt is settled into his job, our home is out of boxes, the kids are starting their new lives, and we have passed the one year anniversary of my father’s death. I feel like I am starting to feel life again for the first time in a year. We are in planning mode for Corrina and Cody’s wedding with his wonderful parents, getting Crysta and Justin moved in for a while until they find their home here in Arizona, starting new projects in our house that will make it our home once again. A mouth full right? Never a dull moment.

Now that I have grieved my losses, I now feel like my creative button has been turned back on again, as you all helped me find the energy to start blogging again. So, I thank you all for being patient – it’s truly been a crazy year for us, but you guys were a shining light in it all. 🙂 Deciding not to blog for a full year was the right thing for me, and I thank you all for allowing me to take a step back to grieve, breathe new life into our crazy world and above all share it all with you. I just wanted you all to know, I am so grateful for each of you. Your messages were all received, I read, answered and adored each and every word. HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for helping me heal. You’re all a blessing – (insert more tears).

HELLO FAMILY THANK YOU

I promise this year new blogs, and great things to share. In the mean time, thank you for following our blog, Facebook, Pinterest, twitter, Instagram, RyobiNation, and BobVila Nation, and Homtalk pages. Thank you all again for helping me get through a terrifying year of changes.